Online Collaboration

Applications
ADE100- Computer Literacy
Lecture 27
Knowledge test
• What is the purpose of web 2.0 technologies?
• What is text chatting?
• Name some applications used for chatting?

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Topics covered
• Introduction to online collaboration
• Working with an online collaboration
application
• Applications: Google docs, etc.

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What is Collaboration?
• Collaboration
• A working practice whereby individuals work
together for a common purpose to achieve some
business benefit
• Key features of collaboration tools are:
• Synchronous collaboration
• Online meetings and instant messaging
• Asynchronous collaboration
• Shared work spaces and annotations(comments)

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What is Online Collaboration?
• Online collaboration
• Offers the ability to interact virtually with anyone
to accomplish a task.
• Several different ways to collaborate such as
• Online meeting rooms
• Live chat
• On-line bulletin board
• A program that allows users to connect and log into
another system to share data and other contents.
• Web meetings and much more.

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Online collaboration
• Online collaboration
• E-learning is not limited by geography
• Online classrooms usually comprise an incredibly
diverse group of people from cultures all over the
world
• More unique experiences, ideas and attitudes
which can be shared
• This also means additional challenges.
• These challenges can all be turned to the advantage
of learners when they are met by people willing to
work together to succeed.

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Benefits of online collaboration
• Benefits
• Meet with anyone, anywhere in the world globally.
• Communicate without the hassle or expense of
traveling
• Demonstrate products & services to anyone,
anytime
• Hold small customer meetings or large conference
forums
• Deliver live, time-critical interactive training on any
topic to targeted audiences anywhere in the world.
• Local language capabilities.
• Measure your success with detailed reporting and
trackability.
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Three ways to use online collaboration
• Web Meetings
• Collaborate with 1 to 50 people.
• Communicate and connect instantly as you present
information
• Share applications without leaving your office
• Online Events
• Hold large online events and webinars (a seminar
on the web) and reach more people in less time.
• From product market launches, to distributor
training sessions and more, connect with your large
global audience.
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Three ways contd.
• Remote Support
• Increase first call resolution with customers in the
lab or in remote locations
• Minimize on-site visits with attended or unattended
remote support

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Work together remotely
• Meet with anyone more quickly and efficiently
to resolve issues.
• Troubleshoot issues instantly
• Increase productivity
• Increase customer satisfaction

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Examples of online collaboration
• Training Programs
• Technical document sharing
• Local language presentation
• Real-time technical support

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Topics covered
• Introduction to online collaboration
• Working with an online collaboration
application
• Application: Google docs

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Collaborative applications
• Collaborative software
• Also referred to as groupware, workgroup support
systems or simply group support systems
• Designed to help people involved in a common task
achieve their goals.
• It allows people to work together on the same
documents and projects over local and remote
networks.
• Also called "social software“, embraces the
communications systems as well including
• E-mail, videoconferencing, instant messaging and chat
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Google docs
• Google Docs
• A free Web-based document-sharing service
• Offered by Google within its Google Drive service
• A storage service but has been replaced by Google
Drive
• It allows users to create and edit documents online
while collaborating in real time with other users
• Serve as a collaborative tool for editing documents
in real time.
• Documents can be shared, opened, and edited by
multiple users simultaneously.

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Google docs 2
• Google Docs can automatically store and
synchronize
• Any Microsoft Word document, PowerPoint
presentation, or Excel spreadsheet to Google Docs
• In Google Docs or Microsoft Office formats
• The Google Doc copy is automatically updated each
time the Microsoft Office document is saved.
• Microsoft Office documents can be edited offline
and synchronized later when online.

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Google docs 3
• Google docs
• Launched 1 GB of storage for free primarily
• In 2012, the free storage increased to 5 GBs
• Support 15 file formats for viewing
• Although you can upload any, including:
• Microsoft Word (.doc and .docx)
• Microsoft Excel (.xls and .xlsx)
• Microsoft PowerPoint (.ppt and .pptx)
• Adobe Portable Document Format (.pdf )

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Google docs in education
• Google docs
• Enable faculty and students to collaborate more
efficiently and effectively on papers, spreadsheets,
and presentations
• Facilitate collaboration, provide timely feedback to
help student teams improve their work & to
monitor student progress

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Ways to facilitate collaboration
• Team projects
• Several people can collaborate simultaneously
• No need to keep track of several versions of
documents
• The revision history features allows one to revert to
previous versions of the document, if needed
• This also encourages more accountability since each
“collaborator” on the Google Doc can see exactly what
they contributed
• The auto-save feature ensures their work will never
be lost.
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Ways to facilitate collaboration 2
• Providing feedback on team projects
• Using the comments feature, you can add feedback
in-text or in the margin of the document.
• This way, you can give feedback in your own timeframe
and don’t have to worry about coordinating group
meetings.
• You can also hold “online office hours” using the
chat function if you wish to talk to students about
their work.

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Ways to facilitate collaboration 3
• Full class collaboration
• Share a Google Doc with the whole class to
coordinate group projects and presentation
signups.
• Or create a venue for interactive brainstorming.
• Encourage students to share their work with the
class to allow others to see their ideas and get
feedback.

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Requirements for Google docs
• You should have the following skills to use
Google docs effectively.
• Email management skills
• Basic knowledge of word processing

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dimdim
• Create online classrooms for distance
education, tutoring, advising.
• Built-in audio and four-way video.
• Students and teachers can replicate the
traditional classroom experience in cyberspace.
• Share Desktop applications.
• Students do not have to install anything to their
computer.

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dimdim interface

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WiZiQ
• Collaborative Web conferencing environment
• Enables you to communicate synchronously (in
real-time) using video and audio
• Or through text chat to share presentations,
documents and images on an interactive
whiteboard.
• Can Record classes.

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WiZiQ

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Dabbleboard
• Dabbleboard
• Online collaboration application that’s centered
around the whiteboard.
• New type of drawing interface that's actually easy
and fun to use.

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DabbleBoard interface

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Twiddla
• Web-based meeting playground.
• No-hassle whiteboard solution for collaborating
online.
• Browse websites and draw on them.
• Share files, and chat with your students.
• Audio options.

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Twiddla interface

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Writeboard
• Simple, web-based collaborative writing
solution
• Free and easy to use.
• People can see updates, edits, and changes in
real-time.
• Can save, track revisions, create versions, and
roll back to previous versions of Writeboard.

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Writeboard interface

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bubbl.us
• Free, web-based application for collaborative
brainstorming.
• Create beautiful mind maps that you can share
with team members.
• You can save, email, and print your mind maps
or even embed them directly onto a web page.

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bubbl.us interface

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Wimba Pronto Instant Messaging
• Instant collaboration system designed for education
and Blackboard.
• Collaborate and learn in an informal “virtual venue”
• Deliver campus services, office hours, library services,
or tutoring sessions online.
• Blackboard classes loaded automatically.
• Student and Instructor have to download the software
to their computer.

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Wimba Pronto interface

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Prezi
• Zooming presentation editor
• Create presentations live and on the Web
• Moving and dynamic

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Summary
• What is Online Collaboration?
• Using Google docs
• Google sheets, slides, sheets, Forms
• Other applications
• Dimdim, WiZiQ, dabbleBoard, Twiddla, Writeboard,
bubbl.us, Wimba Pronto and Prezi

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Activity- 20 minutes
• View and explore interfaces of “Google docs,
dimdim, WiZiQ, dabbleBoard, Writeboard,
Wimba Pronto and Prezi”.

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Thanks
End of Lecture 27

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Allah Hafiz

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